The present invention relates to winged plow assemblies for use with a vehicle.
Straight blade plows cantilevered from an end of a plow vehicle are commonly found in those geographic regions where winter snow accumulation must be cleared from a surface, such as streets, parking lots, and walkways for example, so that people may travel about their daily business without undue hazard from deep snow. During the plowing operation, a plow may be operated either in a centered position, being generally square with the vehicle and generally perpendicular to the vehicle motion, or in an angled position in which the plow is directed toward one side or the other at an angle to the vehicle motion. When plowing with the plow centered, snow will accumulate in front of the plow and typically spill over the ends of the plow. Thus, in the interest of increased plowing efficiency, plow operators are known to fix plates at the ends of the plow blade to minimize such spill over and retain the snow in front of the blade to effectively increase the plow capacity. However, while these additional plates enhance straight line plowing, they are equally detrimental to angled plowing because the plates then effectively clog the blade surface with accumulated snow, thwarting the objective of casting snow to the side during angled plowing.
Accordingly, a need has been recognized for plows to enable either angled or straight/centered plowing, and to increase the efficiency of the plow in the centered position by preventing spill over from the plow ends while allowing proper material flow along the plow blade during angled plowing.